very easy question if I don't know how, please tell me...

I'm quite sure you plumbing experts are thinking I'm silly for asking this cause I'm sure it's simple but I don't know the right way to do this. I need to install a clean out onto an existing drain pipe that's buried outside. So what I can't figure out is after dig a hole and I cut the pipe to fit the clean out that I'm going to buy, how do I get it into the opening. The pipes aren't moving because they are buried under ground on both sides. Sorry if this is the "duh" winner of the day...heehee! Thanks in advance! PS. I really DO know how to use pipe cleaner and glue..ha! I've only joined together loose pipes(new installations) in the past.

LonnythePlumber

03:57PM | 10/31/04

It's primer that must still be wet when you apply the cement. You use no hub (solid body banded) or fernco (two clamps) rubber couplings. You clean enough room on the new or old pipe to slip the couplings back and drop the cleanout straight down. I presume you are tieing into cast iron from the structure and clay on the outgoing side. Make sure you support the ground underneath the fitting so it does not drop.

If you are only a few feet deep you can use a twin clean out fitting to also clean back towards the house or you will need to install two combination wye & 1/8th bends.

It's better to leave the top of the plug at ground level so you don't chop it off with your lawnmower or so high you have to trim around it.

I am putting a clean out in 2" pvc pipe. Yes, I am familier with primer and cement(aka cleaner and glue...hahahahaha!!!!!) So you are saying that I need to make the cut a lot bigger than my elbow coupling (clean out) that I'm putting in. OK so if that's the case could you tell me the steps to put it back together and what I mean by the is which coupling gets glued to what in which order.

I sure wish we could go back and edit these posts cause I'm always making a mistake √ú

I just noticed that I said ELBOW and I meant to say a T coupling. Heck if it was an elbow there wouldn't be any question here. Ha! My same confusing would also apply to simply having to fix a break in a pvc water line. My whole confusion is how do I get a piece of pipe to fit into a gap that's smaller than my piece I want to glue in?

Dumb...I know...

LonnythePlumber

03:52AM | 11/01/04

Is this a wall cleanout or underground? If underground we usually don't have room to use a glue coupling and have to use two rubber ones. If vertical in a wall, you can glue (cement) the bottom of the cleanout tee (elbow coupling?)onto the pipe and whether you can just glue the upper pipe into the fitting depends on the slack. You need about 1 1/2".

Many think that cleaner and primer are the same. Primer activates the atoms on the pipe and fitting so they are dancing around for the cement that is ground up pieces of pipe suspended in solvent. When the solvent evaporates then the atoms are dancing tight together. Cleaner keeps them seperate.

LonnythePlumber

03:55AM | 11/01/04

I presumed the elbow thing but I don't understand what you're doing. Is this a PVC water line? Surely not. And what is your gap in? Dirt, Concrete, drywall.

I have a pvc drain pipe(yes it's buried) that needs to have a clean out installed on it because it has an elbow "down stream" that wants to clug up and we have had to just take all the pipe apart and dig up the whole yard to clean it only to have it clog up again probably because it wasn't cleaned out good the first time :( We don't want to have to dig the yard all up again.

What I'm trying to comprehend is if the drain pipes are solidly in ground and they cannot move around to give me any "slack" how am I going to get that Tee into place. Obviously the "gap" or cut out piece that I've made to install the Tee onto the existing old pipe is going to have to be smaller than my Tee I'm putting on. How then to I get the pieces back together? This can't be an uncommon thing, I mean plumbers fix pipes all the time whether it's a drain or it's a water pipe. All I really am asking is how does a person get the repaired piece together if your pipe cannot be moved out of the way and has NO slack.

I have fixed pvc pipe in the past but it's always just been loose or hanging and there's no issue there.

LonnythePlumber

05:10AM | 11/01/04

You glue a couple of pieces of pipe into your combination wye and 1/8th bend and connect to the existing pipe with the rubber connectors that have to be slid back on the new or old pipe. A 2" wye takes 6 1/2" plus an additional 1 1/2" of pipe in each end is 9 1/2" you need to cut out of the existing pipe. The pieces of pipe will actually be 2 1/4" when you include the 3/4" socket into the wye. You will have to have about three inches cleared on each end of the old pipe to slide the couplings back onto. You put your wye in and then slide the couplings back onto your new pipe.

Aaah! Now I see! I've never used those rubber connectors (Fernco's) but I found a website with the pictures so now I know. Since I'm here and asking all about plumbing I would also like to address the other issue I mentioned about fixing a water supply line that's in the same perdicament (two pipes are solidly in the ground). Sooner or later I'm going to have to fix a broken pipe(pvc also) in my water supply line that's buried underground. I know you can't use rubber connectors in a supply line because of the pressure so how do you get the pipes back together in that situation since like my question was before, the cut out place is closer together than my new piece I want to put back in. PS, thanks!

LonnythePlumber

10:03AM | 11/01/04

Lawn Sprinkler Companys have long slip couplings. They are about 6" long with a pipe that slides in and out and seals with o rings. You glue on one end and then you move the interior pipe onto the existing.